How to do KETO!

Likely, you’ve heard of the KETO diet, the popular way of eating that includes reduced intake of carbohydrates and increased fat.

I am really excited about the KETO way of life and can’t wait to explain why.

As a follower of mine, you’re probably pretty health conscious. Therefore, you may be familiar with another popular term: auto immune disease.

Auto immune disease is on the rise in many forms, even in adolescent years, and the risk factors are increased by the development of an imbalanced micro-biome.

The main contributor to imbalanced micro-biome is heavy antibiotic usage, especially at an early age. The earlier in age the micro-biome is destroyed, the more difficult it is to reestablish.

The latest research on auto immune disease shows that, at least in animal models, diet can change the course of certain autoimmune diseases. 1

In a study led by a team at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN, a cohort of mice were fed a diet rich in saturated fats and cholesterol. 1

Disease progression was compared to that of mice placed on a low fat diet. All animals on the low fat diet had developed auto-immune inflammatory bone disease; animals fed a high fat diet were largely protected. 1

Utilizing the KETO diet, I have seen recovery from a vast number symptoms and conditions, including auto-immune related, in my patients as well as my own health.

Dr. John’s Personal Experience with KETO

At age 53, I found myself struggling with a stressful life. My cholesterol was rising along with blood glucose and fat mass. No amount of exercise or vegetables seem to solve my health problems.

I knew the danger ahead based upon my family’s medical history. I prayed for a solution.

I was soon introduced to the KETO diet and benefits through Metagenics. Even though I was very skeptical at first, I decided to try it for myself.

I immediately noticed a positive change. I started to lose extracellular water, and my ankles no longer swelled in the evenings.

My blood sugar became stable, and those cravings in-between meals disappeared. I became very hopeful and encouraged, not only for myself, but for my patients as well.

How it Works

One of the main goals of a KETO diet is to help you get into ketosis and produce more ketones.

And one of the main ways to get into ketosis and increase ketones is to eat a ketogenic macronutrient profile (i.e., reduce your carbohydrate intake and increase your fat intake).

There are two other ways to increase your ketones:

1. Take ketone supplements (exogenous ketones), or
2. Fast

Exogenous ketones will boost your blood ketone levels, but you won’t necessarily receive the same benefits as going on a proper KETO diet.

Fasting for a prolonged period (e.g., several days) will also boost your ketones as you deplete your glycogen stores and your body starts burning fat.

However, the best way is to eat a healthy ketogenic diet. You’ll enjoy weight-loss, more mental energy, and boost your ketones naturally.

In our clinic, we can calculate your total fat mass, calories, protein mass and blood level ketones. To stay in Adaptive Ketosis, the goal being 1-5 m/moles of ketones.

More to come about Adaptive Ketosis.

IMPORTANT TIPS about Protein, Carbs & Fat for the KETO Diet

CARBS:

Carbs matter most – to get into ketosis (and stay in ketosis), focus on how many carbs you’re eating.

Start with 25 grams of carbs per day. If you moderately exercise or more, you may vary from 25-50 grams per day. If you are more sedentary, then maybe 15-25 grams per day.

It’s very important to note that you may need to tweak your net carb intake to get the ratio that’s right for your body, since everyone’s different.

If you’re highly active and work out for an hour each day or walk 5 miles a day, eating slightly more than 25g of net carbs might work best.

On the other hand, some people need to eat 15g of net carbs or less each day to stay in ketosis. So again, while 20-25g of net carbs per day is a good place to start, you may need to change that over time.

PROTEIN:

A person that is not active in daily exercise may easily consume as little as 2-3 protein servings per day, which would be approximately 50-60 grams of protein

Example: Keto Shake in the morning, chicken or eggs at lunch, and fish at dinner. This example is an excellent way to get started.

For someone who exercises several times per week will need more protein than a sedentary lifestyle person. In this case, a goal to shoot for is consume 0.75 grams of protein per day of desired total body weight.

For example, a person that exercises daily for at least 1 hour and wants to weigh 150 pounds, protein intake should be 112.5 grams.

People have different opinions about quantity of protein on the KETO diet, but for most people, it’s best to get enough protein, rather than worrying about getting too much.

This is true because you need to maintain your lean mass (bone and muscle) while you’re losing weight.

Quality of protein is just as, if not more, important. Not only for success with going KETO, but also for your overall long term health, especially cardiovascular and liver health. Go with these options:

Louise Hendon, author of The Keto Summit blog, has some thoughts that I agree with. She says, “It’s not that calories don’t matter. But on a ketogenic diet, most people do fine without paying attention to calories.”

“Your body will be healing, you’ll have more energy, and usually, weight loss will happen naturally.”

“Having a calorie deficit is important, but most of the time, you’ll eat fewer calories without even thinking about it.”

2. Sometimes Your Body Needs a Little Time 2

“There are a lot of possible reasons this can be true, but many times, your body needs a few days, weeks, or months of healing before it’s ready to lose weight (if that’s your goal).”

“Be patient – you probably didn’t gain the weight in a month, so losing that quickly might not be realistic.”

“Fiber is something that your body can’t break down and digest, so the micro-organisms in your gut feed on it and turn it into fat.”

“It doesn’t raise your blood sugar or kick you out of ketosis, so it’s fine to exclude fiber from your daily carb total.”

4. Eat More Veggies 2

“Meat and seafood are great, but you also need a lot of vegetables in your diet. They help feed your gut bacteria, increase methyalation, detox, and also give you a lot of nutrients.”

Plus, if you stick to leafy, green veggies (spinach, chard, kale, etc.) plus cruciferous veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, etc.), then you won’t have to worry about carbs. Bonus is you will decrease risks for cancer and other diseases.

Nutritional Ketosis, a slightly less intense form of ketosis, occurs when 0.5-0.9 m/moles of ketones are produced.

Adaptive Ketosis, the more therapeutic level, occurs at ketone level of 1-5 m/moles of ketones.

Adaptive Ketosis is referred to as therapeutic ketosis, because of its power to act as an intervention for symptoms and conditions.Consequently, Adaptive Ketosis is when major health improvements occur the most quickly.

Nutritional Ketosis, the less intense form, can be considered maintenance ketosis. This phase is appropriate for when health goals have been achieved, and healthy lifestyle maintenance is the goal.

During maintenance ketosis, it’s OK to relax a little bit with your nutrition.

You will still enjoy great health w/out sabotaging the results of your hard work and healing from your therapeutic phase of being in Adaptive Ketosis.

When I say relax with nutrition, I’m referring to adding in a fruit per day or a gluten-free grain, such as quinoa, a few times per week.

You will want to regularly measure your ketone levels to assess where you’re at.

As said earlier, I am so excited to share with you today and hope you will take the KETO Challenge. It’s a great way to increase your daily fat intake in a healthy way and see powerful health results.

To get started, you may call our clinic at (901)763-7006 to schedule a consult in person or Skype.

In person, there are added benefits to your visit like Blood Ketone Tests and FIR Sauna therapy, along with detailed Body Composition Analysis.

I would be honored to meet with you individually to learn how I can assist with your health goals.

All the Best!Dr. John
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